President Tsai’s Ballot Box Balancing Act
The News Lens
Date: 2017/10/28
By: Sheryn Lee
Like most incumbents, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen is experiencing mid-term
Photo Credit: 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen
polling blues, but the erosion of identification with either of the two major parties should be greater cause for concern.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is experiencing the mid-term blues. In July, support for Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) fell to a meagre 23.9 percent — only marginally higher than support for the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) at 22.5 percent. A majority of Taiwanese voters were undecided on party identification. In the following month, Tsai’s personal approval ratingdropped to 29.8 percent, making her a less popular leader than U.S. President Donald Trump in the same period. While Tsai’s approval recovered to 46.4 percent by the end of September, the figures remain well below her May 2016 post-election popularity high of 70 percent.
On the one hand, shifts in preferences are normal in democracies as mid-term campaigns often motivate voters to vote against the ruling party in order to achieve a balance in policies. But the decrease in party affiliation should be alarming for Taiwan’s two major parties. The number of people who feel strongly affiliated to either the DPP or the KMT is declining, while undecided or swing voters are increasing. This usually has two effects on election day: weak voter turn-out or voters that decide at the polling booth. [FULL STORY]
